Apparatus for the layering of tow



,1969 G-COUTLIJRIER ET AL 3,423;s07

APPARATUS FOR THE LAYERING OF'TOW Filed Feb. 16, 1966 nve llors jAttorneys United States Patent 3,423,807 APPARATUS FOR THE LAYERING 0FTOW Georges Couturier and Charles Gauthier, Lyon, France, assignors toCrylor, Paris, France, a French body corporate Filed Feb. 16, 1966, Ser.No. 527,905 Claims priority, application France, Feb. 19, 1965,

6,315/ 65 U.S. Cl. 28-21 3 Claims Int. Cl. B65h 54/78 ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE This invention relates to an apparatus for the reciprocalrectilinear layering of a tow, a sliver or any other similar assembly oftextile filaments or fibers, all of which will be simply referred to asa tow in the following text, in a receptacle of large dimensions suchas, for example, those employed for the handling of tows between twodiscontinuous operations, treatment baskets or packing cases or boxes.

Layering consists in depositing a tow in such a receptacle in horizontalparallel layers with regularly disposed folds or undulations in eachlayer. It is important to effect a good layering, i.e. to obtain aregular deposition and a good presentation of the tow, which makes itpossible later to withdraw it without tangling or twisting, even whenthe layered tow has been compressed to ensure good stability duringtransport and increase the density of the packing and so save space.

Generally speaking, a layering device comprises a receptacle which iscarried by a support, which is either fixed or movable in one or moredirections, and a tow-distributing device or arm which may also bemovable in one or more directions.

In principle, three types of layering are known:

(a) Layering in a folded sheet,

(b) Layering in loops,

(c) Reciprocal rectilinear layering.

The present invention concerns a method of the last type. In this typeof layering the movement of the tow is rectilinear and reciprocal. Thetow is deposited in the form of folds, each fold having a length equalto that of the receptacle. In order that each fold may be offset fromthe preceding one, it is necessary for the receptacle or the point ofdistribution of the tow to be actuated with a slow lateral movementwhich renders possible complete filling of the receptacle, but indescribing generally the invention, this essential slow lateral movementwill be disregarded and only the rapid movements at right angles theretowill be considered.

It is known to layer tows with a reciprocal rectilinear movement, usinga fixed receptacle and a reciprocating distributing arm. This methodgives satisfactory results at low speeds, but at speeds above, forexample, 50 m. per minute, accurate deposition is impossible, becausethe tow is alternately shifted to either side of the distributing arm byinertia, so that irregular loops are produced in- 3,423,807 PatentedJan. 28, 1969 stead of regular folds. Moreover, the movement of the towis interfered with by air resistance.

It is also known to use a movable receptacle and a fixed di.tributingarm. In this method, the relative movement of the tow with respect tothe receptacle is the same as before, but the advantage is obtained thatthe tow is constantly falling vertically and, consequently, thedeposition remains accurate. However, for reasons of productivity, it isdesirable to use packing receptacles of large dimensions, and it is thennecessary to move reciprocally, with high precision, areceptacle-carriage unit of considerable total weight, which may be 50kg. or more even when the receptacle is empty. This movement must takeplace at relatively high speeds, for example of the order of m. perminute, and this involves considerable inertial forces at the points ofreversal, and thus necessitates costly mechanical means and posesserious problems with regard to the mechanical stability of the WhOleassembly. Moreover, the sudden change of direction is likely to displaceand even to tangle the folds of tow already layered.

Therefore, while both these methods give satisfactory results at lowlayering speeds, this is not so at high speeds, at which the layeringbecomes irregular.

It has surprisingly been found that the above disadvantages anddifficulties can be overcome, and regular layering can be obtained evenat high feed speeds, by a method of working in which the point ofdistribution of the tow and its place of reception are eachsimultaneously actuated with a reciprocal rectilinear movement, thesetwo movements being parallel, complementary (as hereinafter defined),absolutely synchronous and carried out in a common vertical plane, butalways in opposite directions, and in addition the point of distributionof the tow and its place of reception are reciprocated slowly relativeto each other at right angles to the direction of the first two saidmovements.

The word complementary, in the sense in which it is used here, meansthat, in the course of each half-reciprocation, the sum of the absolutevalues of the movements of the point of supply of the tow on the onehand and of the place of reception of this tow on the other hand isconstant and equal to that dimension of the receptacle which is parallelto the path of the point of supply of the tow.

The invention also provides an apparatus for carrying out the abovemethod, comprising a tow-distributing device, means for impartingthereto a reciprocal rectilinear movement, a receptacle support belowthe tow-distributing device, means for imparting to the said support areciprocal rectilinear movement which is complementary and parallel tothe said movement of the tow-distributing device, and in the samevertical plane and synchronous therewith but opposite in directionthereto, and means for causing the tow-distributing device and thereceptacle support to reciprocate slowly relative to each other at rightangles to the first two said movements.

Any ratio between the speeds of the distributing device and thereceptacle support may be chosen. Advantageously, the speed of thedistributing device is higher than that of the receptacle support, forexample twice as high. On the other hand, it is obvious that thesespeeds, in absolute values, must correspond to the speed of supply ofthe tow. The necessary adjustment of the machine is within the abilityof any person skilled in the art.

The method and the apparatus of the invention make it possible to applythe same relative movement to the tow in relation to the receptacle asin the hitherto known methods and apparatus for reciprocal rectilinearlayering, but they have the advantage that they render possible a highspeed of deposition of the tow with relatively low speeds of thereceptacle and of the distributing arm, respectively. Moreover, it ispossible by the method of the invention to obtain a more regular foldingthan with the earlier methods, because it combines, on the one hand, theadvantage of layering with a fixed distributing arm in producing anaccurate deposition of the tow, and on the other hand the advantage of alimited degree of displacement of the receptacle, which represents anappreciable saving of energy and a great advantage from the viewpoint ofmechanical stability.

As the tow-distributing device, there may be used a simple verticalguide hopper or any conveying device such as rolls, an endless belt orthe like, so designed that the path followed by the tow in the partserving as the delivery means remains constantly vertical during thereciprocating movement of the device.

Great care must be taken in the construction of the device for thesynchronization of the movements of the distributing device and of thereceptacle, so that these two movements are continuously absolutelysynchronous and in opposite directions.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying draw- A ing, in whichthe figure represents in vertical section a form of layering apparatus.

Referring now to the drawing, the apparatus is disposed at two levelsone above the other.

At the lower level, a base 1 supports, on rails (not shown), a carriage2 capable of rapid reciprocal rectilinear movement imparted by alaterally attached chain 3 driven by a motor 4 coupled to avariable-speed gear 5. The carriage 2 has on its upper surface rails 2Aat right angles to its direction of movement, on which there is movablymounted a second carriage 6 which in use supports a packing box or otherreceptacle 7; this second carriage is moved by crossed-thread screws 8with a slow reciprocal rectilinear movement produced by a reducinggearmotor 9 attached to the carriage 6. The receptacle 7 is thereforesimultaneously subjected to two movements at right angles, that of thecarriage 2, which is a rapid reciprocating movement, and that of thecarriage 6, which is a slow lateral reciprocating movement.

At the higher level, immediately above the receptacle 7, is situated ahopper 10 attached to a movable carriage 11 actuated by a laterallyattached chain 12 which imparts thereto a reciprocal rectilinearmovement. The hopper 10 receives tow 13 coming from take-up rolls 14.

The movement of the carriage 11 is coupled to that of the carriage 2through gearing 15 so that the two movements are synchronous. Thelateral attachments of the carriages 2 and 11 to the chains 3 and 12,respectively, are so positioned that the movements of the two carriagesare always opposite in direction. The length of travel of the carriage2, and therefore also its speed, are, for example, half that of thecarriage 11.

The ends of the respective travels of the hopper 10 and of thereceptacle 7 are indicated in chain lines in the drawing, a common chainlike corresponding to simultaneous positions at 7' and 10 on the onehand and at 7" and 10 on the other hand.

In this particular device the reciprocal rectilinear movements areobtained either by a laterally attached chain or by crossed-threadscrews. However, any other appropriate device may be used for thispurpose, such as cams, for example frame-type cams, disc-type cams,drum-type cams, grooved cams, etc. Moreover, in order to reduce the worksupplied by the cams or other devices, use may be made of known dampingand energy-recovering devices such as, for example, metallic orpneumatic springs.

Again, while in the particular device illustrated the movements of thecarriages 2 and 11 are synchronised by a belt and gearing transmission,the transmission may very well be effected by means of chains or otherequivalent transmission means.

The device illustrated can be modified, for example, by eliminating thesecond carriage 6, so that the carriage 2 carries the receptacle, andproviding means for imparting the slow lateral reciprocation to thehopper 10.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for the reciprocal rectilinear layering of tow,comprising a first carriage mounted for rectilinear reciprocation, asecond carriage mounted on the first carriage for rectilinearreciprocation at right angles to the movement of the first carriage andadapted to carry a receptacle for layered tow, a tow-distributing deviceabove the second carriage positioned so as to deposit tow in areceptacle carried by the second carriage and mounted for rectilinearreciprocation parallel to and in the same vertical plane as that of thefirst carriage, means for causing the first carriage to reciprocate,means for causing the tow-distributing device to reciprocate, means foractuating both the said reciprocation-imparting means in correlationsuch that the movement of the tow-distributing device is complementarybut in the opposite direction to, and synchronous with, that of thefirst carriage, and means for causing a slow reciprocating movement ofthe second carriage.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the reciprocation of thetow-distribution device is controlled and synchonised with that of thefirst carriage by gearing between the respective reciprocation-impartingmeans.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the towdistributingdevice is constructed to reciprocate at a higher speed of movement thanthe first carriage.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 348,421 8/1886 Schofield 19-1633,123,889 3/1964 Watts et al 28-21 3,281,913 11/1966 Morehead et a128-21 3,339,244 9/1967 Van Deusen 19-l60 FOREIGN PATENTS 658,121 2/1963Canada.

670,341 9/ 1963 Canada.

855,924 12/ 1960 Great Britain.

ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.*R.

